Coming Home
by panickingathogwarts
Summary: College-aged Hiyori helps her mother sort through some old boxes and finds the memories of a life that she had accidentally left behind. Lowkey inspired by Radical Face's "Welcome Home."


**Why am I trash? The world may never know! But here we are! So, without further ado, on to the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Noragami. Yet.**

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Hiyori set the box down and wiped the small bead of sweat off of her forehead. She'd taken the day off to help her mother go through her old boxes and clean up the attic. Hiyori had moved into her own apartment a few months prior and her mother was getting tired of the clutter left behind.

"I'm going to go make some tea, do you want any?" Her mother asked with a kind smile. Hiyori nodded happily.

"I'd love some!" Her mother retreated down to the kitchen and Hiyori rolled up her sleeves once more, as they had fallen down while she was moving things. She wiped her dusty hands on her shorts and knelt to look through the box she had just uncovered. It was old, and the corners were slightly torn.

She rolled her eyes as she felt one of the slightly soggy folds. Her father really needed to get the roof fixed before the rainy season started back up again. She carefully reached into the box and pulled out a small paper book that seemed to have been spared from the rain. She chuckled as she saw a picture of herself drawn on the front, along with two boys that look to be the same age as her.

A fuzzy memory scraped at the back of her mind as she flipped through the book, which was filled with drawings of her and those boys going on ridiculous adventures. She even had a tail in some of the pictures! She laughed aloud when she saw that. Halfway through, the drawing style changed. This drawing looked like a child had done it.

She stared at the last page, wondering who had made the book. She shrugged, assuming that one of her friends had drawn the first half but got bored halfway through. The child-like drawings did look very similar to her own, she must've done that when she was younger and forgot.

Hiyori reached into the box again and pulled out a small Capyer keychain with a crown on it's head. She chuckled as she ran one finger over the small crown. A feeling of nostalgia hit her hard, but she ruled it off to not seeing her friends in a long time. They'd gone off to school, leaving her to run the small flower shop right on the edge of the old Shrine.

She set the keychain on top of the book and reached back into the box. Her hand caught on something soft and she tugged it up from under something else in the box. A gray rag rested in her hand and she leaned back on her heels as she examined it. It was too long to be a regular cleaning rag, but it's edges were torn and ragged. She folded it at the middle and set it in her lap, trying to ignore the nagging at the back of her mind.

She sat forward again to find what had been sitting on the cloth. Her hand made contact with a small wooden structure and she carefully pulled it out of the box. A small, hand-made shrine rested in the palms of her hands. A sigh seemed to flow through the room as memories came flooding back. The accident, the man the others couldn't see, the boy who could turn into a weapon.

Her friends, the god's trying to kill them. Her lost memories that Yukine tried to recover with the book. Hiyori bolted to her feet and ran down the stairs, shrine gently clutched in her hand. She ran past her mother, who was setting tea cups on a tray.

"Hiyori, where are you going?" She called.

"I'm sorry, but I've got somewhere I _need_ to be right now!" Hiyori responded, pausing by the stairs to slip on her shoes. Her mother poked her head out of the kitchen.

"I thought you had left the mysterious running around behind in high school." She lightly scolded. Hiyori grinned brightly and laughed.

"I thought so too." She blew a kiss to her mother and started running again. She ran out of the house and through the gate, energy and excitement coursing through her. She darted across the road, narrowly missing an oncoming bus. She giggled as she paused on the other side, the familiarity of the situation amusing her. She soon reached her small flower shop and she paused in front of it to grab a handful of her flowers.

She ran as fast as she could to the steps of the shrine she used to frequent. She knelt in front of the first step and set down the flowers first. She laid out the old handkerchief and gently set the shrine on top of it. She bowed her head and whispered her prayer. The wind whistled through the trees as she spoke

"God Yato, please answer my prayers. I remembered." She looked up and found an audience. Bishamon and Kofuku sat on the steps in front of her. Kofuku was beaming at the human girl whereas Bishamon looked mildly amused.

"It sure took you long enough!" Kazuma remarks from Bishamon's side. Tenjin stands at the top step.

"Do not encourage the girl, calling upon the gods in such an informal way!" Hiyori smiled up at her old friends before bowing her head once more.

"God Yato," her voice rang out through the courtyard, "Please answer my prayers. I remembered." She looked up to find that nothing had changed. Even the gods in front of her seem confused.

"Shouldn't he show?" Kofuku asked. Bishamon nodded.

"A God is to reveal themselves when a devout follower calls upon them with true conviction." She turned to look at Hiyori. "Maybe you need to believe harder."

"Believe _harder?"_ Kofuku giggled, her pink ringlets bouncing as she moved. Bishamon blushed slightly and looked away with a scoff. Hiyori bowed her head again and started her prayer.

"Maybe it's just too late." Tenji whispered. Hiyori ignored him and continued.

"God Yato, please answer my-" She trailed off. She opened her eyes and blinked up at the gods in front of her before falling back to sit on her butt and dig through her short pockets. After a moment, she finally grasped what she was looking for. She fished it out of her pocket and held it up in victory. A small five yen coin was trapped between her fingers and she called out in victory.

She placed it in the small space at the front of the shrine. "God Yato, please help me!" She called, not bothering to bow her head. The wind whipped around her once more, pulling up the edges of her shirt and making her hair wrap wildly around her face. When it finally settled, Yukine stood on the step in front of her, smiling brightly.

"Delivery God Yato, ready to work!" A familiar voice sounded from beside her. Hiyori looked up and wondered how she ever could have forgotten him. She jumped to her feet and threw her arms around him in a tight embrace, tears falling from her eyes. Yato's arms tentatively wrapped around her as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried. "I will never forget you, ever again! I swear!" Yukine chuckled from his seat next to Kofuku.

"You've said that before." Hiyori sniffled and pulled out of the hug.

"I mean it! I'm so sorry!" She hiccuped around her tears. Yato rested his hand on top of her head and gave her a stern look.

"Stop crying. It makes your face puffy." Hiyori's eyes widened as Yato's face melted into a gentle smile.

"Welcome home, Hiyori."

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 **Thank you for reading! I know this is super sappy and weird and not something I usually write but oh wellllll. I was hit with a major case of writers block and then this came out. It was almost gonna be a Mystic Messenger fic, but then I felt the need for some Noragami. I hope you enjoyed it and, as always, if you didn't let me know what I can fix!**

 **All of the love!**


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